Google Doodles 2011

Here are 28 of our favorite doodles from those that have appeared so far this year.

Did you know that yesterday was the 119th anniversary of the ice cream sundae? Neither did I, but I quickly learned of the occasion when I hit Google early on in the day. That's when I discovered the day's Google Doodle, a vintage-looking drawing of a sundae complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

The first Google Doodle appeared on the search giant's site back in 1998. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to have a little fun with the company's logo, creating a drawing that represented Burning Man, an annual festival held in the desert that both Page and Brin were attending. This first Google Doodle was simply a stick figure that replaced one of the "Os" in the company name. But it struck a chord with Google users and a tradition was born. According to Google's site, "The doodle team has created over 300 doodles for Google.com in the United States and over 700 have been designed internationally."

Unfortunately, I haven't seen them all, but I have glimpsed quite a few. And each time I happen upon one, whether expected or not, I'm always amused. Often these Google Doodles serve as a bit of a history lesson for me. Many times I've seen a doodle, moused over it to see what the occasion is, and then gone on to search on the site (or consult Wikipedia) for an explanation.

Some Google Doodles are interactive (for example, you could control the height of the Bunsen burner flame in last week's doodle, which celebrated Robert Bunsen's birthday) and some are just plain pretty to look at. In my opinion, some of the best Google Doodles are those done by children for the company's annual "Doodle 4 Google" contest. The company invites K-12 students to submit drawings, offering a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 tech grant to the winner's school. This year's winner will be revealed on May 20th.

After seeing yesterday's doodle, I decided to take a look back at the Google Doodles that have appeared so far this year. Here are my favorites. Of course, you can check out the rest at Google's site (http://www.google.com/logos/).

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